Na'Vi to use stand in while SoNNeikO out for health

Na'Vi will be using a standin for several weeks as Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev is out for health reasons.

Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev will be out of competitive play effective immediately until after ESL One Mumbai 2019 which will take place April 16-21st.

In his stead will be Mikhail “Misha” Agatov, a notable Russian player who has been part of the regional Dota 2 scene since 2015.

In the press release the team manager commented on the status and results of the team recently, as well as their plan moving forward.

"The last couple of months weren’t good for the team. I read a lot about insufficient preparation of NAVI for the Major, but would like to note that we started practising 20 days in advance, while the last 7 days were spent on a bootcamp.

Nonetheless, some mistakes were made at the tournament, which didn’t allow us to achieve the desirable result. The team was spiritually exhausted by the time OGA Dota PIT Minor 2019 qualifiers came, so we couldn’t even make our ideas happen. It’s frustrating, but we’ll keep working nonetheless.

During the next three weeks the team will play with a stand-in, as Akbar needs this time to solve the health issues. Misha will play with us at the coming tournaments. Note that this decision was made before the qualifiers, and is not connected with anything other than health.

Upon returning from India the team will keep on preparing with the full roster."